The present invention relates to an appliance and method for cooking food articles, and particularly to such an appliance and method for cooking food articles by means of a heated cooking liquid. The invention is especially useful as an appliance for either frying various types of food articles, such as potatoes and pieces of meat, for steaming food such as rice or vegetables, and/or for popping corn.
Many appliances of this type have been developed and are described in the literature, for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,873,920; 4,901,633; 5,010,805; 5,146,841; 5,165,329; 5,379,684; 5,524,527; 5,543,166; 5,584,234; 5,611,265; and 6,077,555. In most of these appliances, the food articles are completely immersed in hot oil during the frying process, thereby causing them to become soaked in the oil. U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,166 discloses an appliance in which the food articles are tumbled through a small quantity of the frying oil at the bottom of a rotary drum in order to decrease the quantity of oil absorbed by the food articles. However, even with the latter appliance, the food articles still absorb a significant quantity of the oil, in the order of 20%.
An object of the present invention is to provide an appliance, and also to method, which may be used for frying food articles while minimizing the quantity of oil absorbed by the food articles.
According to a broad aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooking appliance for cooking food articles by means of a heated cooking liquid, comprising: a liquid container for receiving a quantity of the cooking liquid; an electrical heater for heating the cooking liquid; a perforated rotary drum for receiving the food articles to be cooked; and a drive for rotating the rotary drum; characterized in that the liquid container is selectively movable to a raised position, wherein the cooking liquid therein directly contacts food articles in the drum, or to a lowered position wherein the cooking liquid therein is spaced below the food articles in the drum.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of cooking food articles comprising introducing the food articles into a drum perforated with openings smaller than the food articles; introducing a cooking liquid in a liquid container below the drum; spacing the drum above the liquid container sufficiently such that the cooking liquid therein does not directly contact any food articles in the drum; and heating the cooking liquid while rotating the drum such that the food articles tumble within the drum while heated by the heat from the cooking liquid and the liquid container.
As will be described more particularly below, such a cooking appliance may be used for both frying food articles and also for steaming food articles.
When the appliance is used for frying food articles, the liquid container is first moved to its lowered position, wherein the cooking liquid therein is spaced below the food articles in the drum. In the lowered position of the liquid container, the heat from the hot oil and the liquid container pre-heats the food articles as they tumble in the drum, thereby raising their temperature such as to reduce the temperature difference between the food articles and the hot oil at the time of initial contact of the food articles with the hot oil. The pre-heating is effected not only by the heat transferred from the hot oil, but also by that transferred from the heated walls of the container. It has been found that this pre-heating substantially reduces the amount of oil absorbed by the food articles, from about 20% as in the previous process, to about 8-11%. It is believed that this result is produced for the following reasons: When the food articles are not pre-heated, there is a large temperature difference between the food articles and the oil at the time of the initial contact with the oil, which cools the relatively small quantity of oil. This delays the formation of a hardened crust by the hot oil, and thereby increases the amount of oil absorbed and retained within the food articles before the crust is formed. On the other hand, when the food articles are pre-heated before immersed in the hot oil, the oil remains hot and therefore immediately forms a crust, which thereby reduces the amount of oil absorbed before the crust is formed.
Such a cooking appliance can also be used for steaming food articles, such as vegetables, rice, etc., by retaining the liquid container in its lowered position, spaced below the bottom of the drum while the drum is rotated, so that the food articles tumbling within the drum do not come into direct contact with the liquid (water), but only with the steam thereof.
Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description below.